7

THE FIRST INMATES

Carol Burns had a soft spot for the boisterous, misshapen Franky Doyle,
as did the fans - the avalanche of mall from Australian and American viewers
proved that. 'I loved the character from the very first time I saw
the scripts. I thought it was probably the best television part for any
woman in Australian TV. I felt for Franky, even though she was totally
aggressive, and unloved through her own stupidity. She was human
and, in her own way, honest.'

Two major admissions from Carol: 'I didn't go to any prisons to research
Franky, and I'd never talked to a bikie before in my life. But after
a couple of weeks on the show I met one on a beach and ended up buying
him a beer in the local pub. I also met a woman in a Wollongong (an
industrial city near Sydney) hospital having tattoos removed.'

No sooner was she an established favourite than Carol Burns asked for
her role to be terminated. It was 8 March 1979 when the news broke,
but Franky would be seen on screen for another five months as the Wentworth
gang was then shooting Episode Twenty-six and into a two-shows-a- week
schedule. Carol said she couldn't keep the pace.

Producer Bradley said, 'We have had to schedule extra shootings and
agree with Carol that it would be difficult for her to continue playing
Franky at this high standard. Carol is a very versatile actress.
She takes a lot of time to get into her part and works very hard at it.
Perhaps we can write her back into the show at a later date.'

But Carol had reached the stage where she wanted out, and asked that
'Franky go out with a bang - dead, gone and buried.' She got her wishes
and the mourning around the country and in the United States added to the
Franky Doyle cult society.

Carol was so affected by an immediate deluge of mail, telephone calls
and even petitions asking that she reconsider and stay in Wentworth, that
she made an unprecedented and emotional appearance on 'The Steve Raymond
Show' to explain why she had to leave. 'It was almost as hard as
playing Franky in full flight, but I had made up my mind and, while I was
very touched by the support of so many fans, there was no new reason to
reassess the situation or change my mind.'

Carol's resignation meant that top Australian movie actor, Jack Thompson,
wouldn't be seen in the series either. Jack (star of the popular
World War II 'Spyforce' series and the movies Sunday Too Far Away,
Breaker Morant, Scobie Malone, Petersen) had wanted
to work with Carol in 'Prisoner', playing off the character of Franky Doyle.
This meant Jack was going back to TV after refusing small-screen work for
years. Jack

Page 47

<Picture> Tea-break in the canteen for the Wentworth girls as Chrissie
Latham (Amanda Muggleton, back to camera) chats with Bea Smith (Val Lehman)

had met Carol when she was 14. They were involved with local theatre
groups in Brisbane and it was Jack who did most to encourage Carol's career.

Grundy's responded by changing the emphasis to the Bea Smith character,
ably carried on Val Lehman's strong shoulders, and they increased Sheila
Florance's workload, too. The writers also started to build up Elspeth
Ballantyne's role of warder Meg Morris. And there was a steady influx
of new faces in the cells and in uniform.

American actress Betty Bobbitt, 31, who had first come to Australia
in 1962 at the invitation of the Seven Network to work as a featured artist
on the 'Daly At Night' show with American comics Jonathon Daly and Ken
Delo, soon made an impression as inmate Judy Bryant. Bryant was on
a marijuana possession charge, and set to get a bond and fine. But
she missed her lover, Sharon Gilmore (Margot Knight), and made

Page 48

sure she stayed in Wentworth with Sharon by getting
caught with marijuana in the lockup. The ruse worked. According
to Betty's contract she would be doing porridge for two months. But
the Judy Bryant character was an immediate success and Betty would end
up on a five-year acting stretch.

In the years between 'Daly' and 'Prisoner', Betty's resonant voice and
'Yank, then mid-Atlantic accent' kept her in demand much of the time and
brought her many solid acting jobs. But she admits there were desperate
times in 1967 and '68 when she moved to Sydney to work in the computer
mailing business (the lowest point of my life). She was in the 1976
movie, Eliza Frazer, starring Susannah York, Noel Ferrier and Trevor
Howard. Betty's TV credits included 'Bellbird', 'Matlock Police'
and 'Cop Shop'. And she was a regular contract player for the acclaimed
Melbourne Theatre Company. She also hit the high spots as a member
of the Glitter Sisters singing duo.

'I made sure Judy was portrayed as having a kindly, sensitive side.
The lesbian aspects of "Prisoner" were fairly heavy and overdone in the
early days, but Judy was a much more realistic and honest version of that
breed,' said Betty.

Beautiful blonde Briony Behets, 27, was the
next major inmate to check into Wentworth. Only weeks before,
the British-born actress's latest movie, Long Weekend, starring John Hargreaves
as her husband, had been unveiled to good notices. The ecological
thriller was written and directed by Bri's boyfriend, Colin Eggleston,
a driving force behind some of Crawford Productions' drama output in the
late Sixties and Seventies.

Briony was one of the original sexpots in 'Number 96', and did a 14-month
stint as Judy Donovan in 'The Box' series. A former teacher, she'd
been in Australia since 1972, when she co-starred in the bizarre rat attack
thriller Night of Fear, and had a high profile as Tuesday in the TV series
'Birds in the Bush' (U.K. title: 'Virgin Fellas'). In 'Prisoner'
she was compulsive shoplifter Susan Rice, mother of two, whose unstable
marriage led her to crime. Her six-week
story was shown from the traumatic clashes
at home through to her arrest and arrival at Wentworth.

'I have turned down a lot of soap offers over the past two years,' explained
Briony, 'to try and get away from sex-oriented roles. The years catch
up with you, and I really want to do more dramatic work, even if it's support
or guest pieces.'

The workload told on all the main players. Most lived in Melbourne
and could get away from the rigours of making the show simply by driving
home. It was different and more difficult for the inter-state Sydney
cast. They tried to get home as regularly as possible. Some
made it two or three times a month, others once a month. It depended
on the state of the heart and pocket - 500 miles of the treacherous Hume
Highway took their toll on car and driver, and the one-hour commercial
jet flight cost a packet (up to $295 (£140) return by the time the
show ended in 1986). Extra characters would soon be introduced in
an effort to lessen the pressures on

Page 49

the regular players and it had been decided that men would be featured
more prominently, too.
Mary Ward was the next regular to depart her cell at Wentworth.
'It's sad,' the veteran actress revealed, 'but two shows a week are taking
their toll on me. It would be all right if I was younger. But
that's the penalty you pay when the years catch up with you. I've
loved doing the role of Mum Brookes, and all the girls in the show have
been wonderful. They've treated me real nice. I haven't been killed
off, so maybe I'll be back sometime. I would like that, but right now I'm
off to Perth to see my family and friends and have a rest after a year
in clink.'

The writers took a simple way out for gardening-fanatic Mum's exit.
They wrote in an on-screen heart-attack and
rushed her off to an emergency hospital for specialised

A DAY IN THE TUNNEL

It was a long, hard slog producing the
two hours of 'Prisoner' each week. The cast started rehearsal at around
8 a.m. on Mondays, Tuesdays and Wednesdays, usually on a ten-hour call,
and then they would tape for up to fourteen hours a day on Thursday and
Friday.

'Have a heavy night on the town, and you
really pay for it next morning,' said Val Lehman. ' You've really got to
be on your toes and have a clear mind. No one has time to sit around and
mope or nurse a hangover or headache, you can't take it easy. It's go,
go, go.'

In between rehearsals and taping, the cast
had the 'Tunnel' for relaxing - a sort of a Green Room (traditionally where
actors relax before going on set). The Nunawading studio tunnel was a cosy
setup with posters and notices stuck on the walls. Coffee and tea was always
on the boil, and at the end of the Tunnel, a giant settee and the start
of the wardrobe department.

Usually the Tunnel was a bit of a mess,
with chairs, pouffes, scripts, soft drink bottles, polf coffee cups, discarded
clothing and wardrobe pieces. 'Who cares?' said Fioan Spence. 'It's comfortable,
and we rush in and out during rehearsals and tapings. It's home.'

It was also where the cast got to read
the latest PR sheets, mail from viewers and keep track of scripts and the
regular changes. Even a book could come in handy - in between those incessant
cigarettes Sheila Florance intently read a latest bestseller, while Colette
Mann was just as studious, deep in notes for a forthcoming episode in which
she would give the writers some advice and background information on inmate
counselling. She also carried a few battered paperbacks.

Ocassionally, there would be a speedy visit
to the studio pay-phone, or a special trip to the make-up room for simulated
blood or wounds.

The Tunnel was a place of constant activity
except when the cameras were turning or rehearsals underway. Flowers, cards
and gifts arrived regularly. Val Lehman was amused by one particular gift,
a box of chocolates with a hidden bonus, a ten-inch hacksaw 'The
chocolates are great,' crooned Val, who then had to explain how she, Sheila,
Colette and Fiona Spence had eaten the lot.

'They're like the Three Musketeers,' said
a soundman. 'Val's the unoffical leader of Sheila and Colette. They're
together all the time. They're a load of fun, great mates, and the crew
love 'em - and can they tell jokes, most of which you could never put in
print.'

Elspeth Ballantyne had missed out on the
chocolate, but was busy telling an on-set visiting reporter that much of
the

Page 51

appeal of 'Prisoner' comes from the fact
that the women on screen aren't dolly-birds. 'Women can relate to us.'

When the subject of children, single-parenthood
and mum's arduous schedules on 'Prisoner' ['came up' omitted from original?],
Elspeth and Val were soon in earnest discussion.

Because of the long working hours, Elspeth
zealously guarded her restricted time with children Matthew (11) and Tobias
(9). Her career had taken a back seat soon after she married 'Bellbird'
beau Dennis Miller, one of Australia's busiest actors. She had raised the
boys since the 1977 split from Miller. 'Naturally, there are unique problems
coping as a single mum, and "Prisoner" has changed my lifestyle.'

With 'Prisoner' slotted into the 8.30 p.m.
adult viewing time on the O-TEN network the boys had yet to see their mum
on TV. 'They asked me once if they could watch it and I said certainly
not. They tried to con their grandparents during a holday in Adelaide,
but Mum and Dad were always watching ABC, thankfully.'

Val Lehman also placed special priorities
with her two girls, Cassie (16) and Joanne (15). 'My life away from Wentworth
is fairly simple. We spend most of the free weekends on a farm owned by
a close, close friend. All I can say is, I'm extremely happy. Val divorced
her Army officer husband. 'He thought there wasn't enough room in the family
for two careers, so we broke up. Acting is something I couldn't give up.'

treatment and a long stay in an intensive care unit, which you wouldn't
see on screen. That way, Mum could be left in limbo and retrieved
for later episodes.

In any event, the garden wouldn't be the same without Mum. She'd
helped plant those first seeds and her every spare moment had cultivated
much of the colour and ,beauty in the small plot, which seemed so remote
from the day-to-day life of Wentworth.

Wentworth's other older player, Sheila Florance, had her own unique
ways of coping with the
demands of Lizzie Birdsworth. Sheila rushes everywhere, as she
has done all her life, which she says keeps her weight down. And
she attributed her good health to a 'special diet' - stout and vegetables.
She was drinking at least six small bottles of stout daily, devouring plenty
of fresh vegetables, and 'swallowing a ton of vitamin pills a day'.
Sheila claimed her only vice was a huge one - smoking. 'I just can't
help it - it stops me from getting nervous.' Her sons Peter, Dean of the
Victorian College of Drama, and Phillip, a TV cameraman, were always at
their mum to quit. But to no avail.

'I can switch off from here,' she told Daily Mirror journalist Fran
Hernon during an interview at the studios. 'I go home to my darling
husband John and do the cooking. I love cooking. 'Our house is packed with
memorabilia. I've lived a full, rich life and have a home

Page 52

full of mementos, each one has a story. In fact, I can remember
who gave me each one of them. Not bad for an old dodderer of 63.'

Rosie Sturgess, a longstanding comedy favourite with Oz TV audiences,
and respected stage and TV actress Monica Maughan, joined the 'Prisoner'
ranks as a mother and daughter combination. Monica played Pat O'Connell,
mother of two young children, jailed for aiding and abetting her husband
and son in an armed robbery. Rosie played Pat's mum, Mrs Devlin,
left at home to look after the fretting kids.

Viewers warmed to the two players - Rosie had been a big name in 'The
Wilson Family' sketches on Graham Kennedy's 'In Melbourne Tonight', and
as the long-suffering wife of Alwyn Kurts in 'The Last of the Australians',
a 39-part series unashamedly copied from Warren Mitchell's U.K. show 'Till
Death Us Do Part'.

Monica had been an Ozcar Best Actress movie winner for her poignant
performance as a troubled spinster in the 1975 Melbourne movie A City's
Child, and was well known to Australian TV viewers for her major role as
office secretary Maureen Flaherty in 'The Box' series also shot at the
Nunawading studios.

Towards the end of 1979, more new faces appeared before the cameras
at Wentworth. Some would be seen on air before the December end-of-season
episode, with the others filtering through the first months of 1980.

Doreen would get a boyfriend and, after some serious courting, the possibility
of wedding bells. Ros Speirs, 28, a tall sophisticated actress best
known for her splendid work as Nellie West, wife of the central character
in the powerful ABC-TV series 'Power Without Glory', and later to become
an actors' agent, was arriving as new prisoner Caroline Simpson, on remand
for the stabbing murder of her woman-bashing father. The unusual
arrival of Caroline was compounded by the company of her distraught mother
(Bernadette Hillier), also charged with the killing. Caroline's presence
in everyday clothing - she was never a regular inmate - set her aside from
the other prisoners, and she had to suffer their mistrust. She would
get 'slightly involved' with Deputy Governor Jim Fletcher (Gerard Maguire).

PRISONER FILE Name: Nola McKenzie Actress: Carole Skinner

Dual killer, Nola McKenzie, was on
death row in Western Australia for the murder of her husband and a prison
guard when she broke out - and ended up in custody at Wentworth with an
armed robbery charge. For actress Carol Skinner, 38, it was the biggest
challenge of her career. ' I'd never played a genuine nasty before.
Nola's tough, evil and deadly - there isn't an ounce of human compassion
in her. She hasn't a good word for anyone and she's absolutely hideous
to poor old Lizzie.'

Page 53

PRISONER FILEName: Roxanne Laporte Actress: Pepi D'Or

Peppie d'Or, 22, was no newcomer to
Australian soap, having previously appeared in 'Cop Shop', 'Holiday Island'
and 'The Sullivans'. Normally, her presence meant glitz and glamour --
but for 'Prisoner' she had to appear seven months pregnant

Even Bea Smith, now undisputed boss of the cells
in the wake of Franky Doyle's death, was in the arms of reformed ex-con
Ken Pearce (played by Tom Oliver) and tugging at the audience's heart-strings.

Sigrid Thornton was the next classical
beauty to boost 'Prisoner's glamour stakes, a 23-year-old Queenslander
who was being touted as a international star because of her classic cheekbones,
big brown eyes and undeniable screen chemistry. She'd appeared with
Patrick Cargill in 'Father, Dear Father, Down Under', 'Homicide' and 'The
Sullivans', and made a promising cross to the big screen in The Getting
of Wisdom (1977), F. J. Holden (1 977) and Snapshot (1
979). By coincidence, she would later star with Val Lehman in ABC-TV's
'Outbreak of Love'. In private life Sigrid lived with film producer-assistant
director Tom Burstall and together they were renovating historical stables
as a new home in an inner Melbourne suburb. Tom's British-born director-dad
Tim was one of the movie-makers who led Australia's 1960s and '70s cinema
resurgences (Stork, 2000 Weeks, Alvin Purple, Last
of the Knucklemen).

Wentworth's assembly ogled the spunky new inmate for many different
reasons from the moment she signed in as murderess Rosalyn Coulson, known
to have strong ties with a group of militants. Ros might have been
young, but she was a very complex person, and behind her attractive façade
were uncontrollable, fiery demons.

In one of the most ambitious and daring plots of the series, Rosalyn's
armed militia mates formulate an escape plan which would have done
Charles Bronson or Sylvester Stallone proud. Armed to the teeth,
Ros's renegades brought terrorism to Wentworth. Although Ros was
blasted out of jail, her freedom would last only a few weeks.

Meanwhile off screen, the real-life romance of Barry Quin and Peta Toppano
had blossomed. While playing roles as lovers in 'Prisoner' (he as
caring Doctor Greg Miller, and she, inmate Karen Travers) they'd fallen
in love and married quietly in April. Four months later they announced
they were quitting. The script writers had ample time to wrap up
their respective stories - Karen's retrial (owing much to Greg's loving
persistence, and a skilful lawyer, played by Jim Smillie) resulted in her
joining a work release programme. The
knowing judge took into account Karen had already served

Page 54

eighteen months in custody, and new evidence showed she had been terrorised
and scarred by her husband's brutal onslaughts before she attacked him
with the scissors in the infamous shower scene.
As 1979 ended, Karen, courtesy of the scriptwriters, would be at death's
door, requiring a rare and delicate operation and who
better to perform the life-giving surgery than Dr Greg? 1980 would
see Karen on the outside.

Within days of finishing their work at Wentworth in late October, the
happy couple were jetting to England to meet Barry's parents in Sussex.
'Barry and I need more time to get to know each other. We've had
to live day and night with "Prisoner" all year. I really feel like Karen
Travers - I'm out, free. I can smell the fresh air. It's wonderful,'
Peta said just before taking the flight out of Sydney.
Early November revealed some of the inmates at Fairlea Women's Prison
were modelling themselves on characters in 'Prisoner'. 'And the results
are not very beneficial,' claimed Dame Phyllis Frost, convenor of the Fairlea
Women's Prison

<Picture> Karen Travers (Peta Toppano) was an ordinary, devoted
school-teacher until she took a kitchen knife and stabbed her husband to
death in the shower. A spine-tingling flashback to the famous scene in
Psycho

Page 55

PRISONER FILEName: Pixie MasonActress: Judy McBurney

Sydney actress Judy McBurney was one
of the most popular stars from 'The Young Doctors' where she played Tania
Livingstone. As Pixie Mason, Network O-TEN's executive producer,
Matt Carroll, called her 'a big character - crazy and caught up in bigamy
and fraud with a comic edge'. When male inmates arrive at Wentworth,
Pixie is raped by Frank Bourke (Trevor Kent), setting off a cha in reaction
of brutal retaliations by Myra Desmond (Anne Phelan).

Council. As a result of the series, some of the women were at
times endeavouring to act out roles depicted on screen, even adopting the
names of the main prisoners and warders from Wentworth. The jail
officials found it most disturbing that certain inmates had to be ordered
'in vigorous manner' to stop their charades and resume life as their former
selves. Said a Fa'rlea official, 'It adds so many problems to daily
administration.'

The newly appointed Governor of Fairlea, Mr Leslie Curll, agreed with
Dame Phyllis: ' "Prisoner" as a series gives the wrong impression about
jail life.' And the Victorian Minister for Community Welfare Services said
the public at large had to realise the nature of Victoria's jail population
has 'changed so very dramatically. The proportion of prisoners serving
long terms for crimes of violence has almost doubled in the past ten years.'

One of those changes was reflected in the story of Caroline Simpson
(Ros Speirs). She and her mum finally got their day in court and
told how old man Simpson had beaten his wife for years. As the two
women had already spent several months in Wentworth on remand, they were
given suspended sentences on lesser charges of involuntary manslaughter.
But Caroline had to agree to spend several weeks acclimatising in a halfway
house', a fairly new experimental scheme in which trusted ex-prisoners
and volunteer specialists helped newly released prisoners to face life
with more confidence. (In later episodes Betty Bobbitt's character, Judy
Bryant, would play a major role in setting up a halfway house with technical
and personal advice from real-life ex-prisoner Sandra Willson.)

Page 56

THE FRANKY DOYLE STORY

Given the strength of Franky Doyle's impact
on audiences whenever 'Prisoner' was screened, Grundy's put a skilled team
together to edit the lesbian bikie misfit's story into a two-hour special,

'The Franky Doyle Story' (what else?) replayed
the more memorable events of her torrid stay at Wentworth, and, needless
to say, was a gigantic hit. Flitting in and out of special were

<Picture> 'The first part's easy' says
Franky Doyle (Carol Burns) as she snips the barb-wire barring her escape
from Wentworth. She is joined by Doreen Campbell
(Colette Mann) and Lizzie Birdsworth (Sheila Florance)

the other regulars of the show, but the
story was Franky's, and it didn't pause for breath along the way.

There was Franky's first romantic target,
Karen Travers (Peta Toppano); the storm which erupted when Doreen Anderson
(Colette Mann), Franky's child-like girlfriend, was about to be moved to
another ward, triggering the legendary destruction
scene in the prison library; the deadly top dog tussles with Bea Smith
(Val Lehman); murder and blood-letting in the brawls and riots; and the
hunger strike.

Who could forget Franky's traumatic sufferings
and gradual decline in the harrowing times after the death of her kid brother?
He was the one person she genuinely loved, but they couldn't be together.
Finally, that fateful escape attempt with bumbling Doreen after Lizzie
was stricken along the way and Franky's short-lived freedom before she
shot a policeman and was gunned down herself.

And who could forget Franky's defiant dying
words, 'Bloody bastards!'

Page 57

There were critics, of course. Like the
nationally mass circulated TV Week magazine, which questioned the
patching together of a principal character's key scenes without giving
proper and due consideration to other vital players.

Marion Macdonald wrote in her 'TV Extra'
column in the highly respected Sydney Morning Herald: 'The producer has
simply taken all the bits on Franky throughout the series and spliced them
together, en-to-end, with ad-breaks to paper over the more remarkable leaps
in the narrative. The method is interesting in showing how teh characters
in a serial can be changed (from moronic to witty, for instance, from weak
to steely) to fit the needs of the script or the prejudices of the scriptwriter.
I can't think what else it has to recommend it.'

But the fans loved it and the ratings went
through the roof. It was said to be the most VCR-copied telemovie of its
time.

<Picture> Franky Doyle (Carol Burns)
about to go on the rampage in the canteen. She has the attention
of Karen Travers (Peta Toppano) and Chrissie Latham (Amanda Muggleton (centre)
but Old Lizzie Birdsworth (Sheila Florance), (second from left)
has seen it all before.